THE MIDWEST SEMINAR IN ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
 
 

Marquette University Faculty Participants: Owen Goldin (Ancient), Susanne Foster (Ancient, Ethics), John Jones (Medieval Social Thought, Neoplatonism), James South (Late Medieval & Renaissance), Andrew Tallon (NeoThomism, phenomenology), Richard C. Taylor (Medieval Latin & Arabic), Roland Teske, S.J., (Medieval, Augustine, Philosophy of Religion), David Twetten (Medieval, Aquinas) and others from Marquette and other regional universities.


Recent visiting participants in the seminar have included Suzanne Stern-Gillet (Bolton Institute), Alfred Ivry (New York University), Thomas Williams (University of Iowa), Eugene Garver (Saint John's University), Patricia Curd (Purdue University), Cristina D'Ancona (Università di Padova), John Sisko (College of William and Mary), Jeffrey E. Brower (Purdue University), Mary J. Sirridge (Lousiana State University), Richard Tierney (University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee), Kenneth Seeskin (Northwestern University), Ruth Glassner (Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem), Steven Harvey (Bar Ilan University), Ray Weiss (University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee), Hye-Kyung Kim (University of Wisconsin at Green Bay), Lorraine Pangle (University of Texas at Austin), Josep Puig Montada (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Roslyn Weiss (Lehigh University), Helen Lang (Villanova University), Andrew Payne, Universityof St. Joseph, Daniel Frank, Purdue University, Andreas Speer, Thomas Institut, Cologne, Carlos Fraenkel, McGill University, Sarah Pessin, University of Denver, and others.


DIRECTIONS AND MAPS:

- For directions to the Marquette Campus, see http://www.marquette.edu/contact/directions/

- For information on the Raynor Library and nearby parking see

http://www.marquette.edu/contact/finder/raynor.shtml.

- For information on the Alumni Memorial Union (AMU) and its location, see

http://www.marquette.edu/contact/finder/union.shtml

- For information on Cudahy Hall and its location, see

http://www.marquette.edu/contact/finder/cudahy.shtml

- For a map of the Marquette University campus, see http://www.marquette.edu/contact/CampusMap.pdf

- For a map of downtown Milwaukee, see

http://www.wisconline.com/counties/milwaukee/map-downtown.html


Send requests for information to:

Richard C. Taylor, Department of Philosophy, Marquette University

Email: mistertea@mac.com or Richard.Taylor@Marquette.edu.

Telephone: (414)-288-5649, Fax: (414)288-3010


SOME VALUABLE LINKS


Aquinas and the Arabs: A Project in Medieval Philosophy:

http://web.mac.com/mistertea/iWeb/Aquinas%20&%20the%20Arabs/Aquinas%20&%20the%20Arabs.html


Marquette University Philosophy Department: http://www.marquette.edu/phil/

 

Marquette University

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

St Joan of Arc Chapel

The Marquette University Midwest Seminar in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy is pleased to present

Nicholas Oschman

Philosophy Department, Marquette University

presenting

“On a Lonely Island: Ibn Tufayl’s Mystical Response to Avicennian and Farabian Aristotelianism”

3:30-5:30 pm Thursday 3 September 2015

Raynor Memorial Library, room 330b










Nick Oschman is a current Ph.D. student at Marquette University entering the dissertation phase of his studies, during which he will focus on the ethical merits of al-Fārābī’s theories regarding the proper construction of social knowledge for the majority by the elite, educated class of society. His areas of interest include ethics, medieval Arabic philosophy, and ancient philosophy. He has recently given talks on Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy ibn Yaqzān, al-Fārābī’s epistemology, al-Fārābī’s logic, and the dramatic context of Plato’s Euthydemus. He currently serves as the Chair of the Marquette University Graduate Student Chapter of Aquinas and ‘the Arabs.’


Abstract:

In his philosophical tale, Hayy ibn Yaqzān, Ibn Tufayl, the 12th century Andalusian polymath, tells the story of a man who, from the beginning of his life, lives upon a lush equatorial island divorced from the mainland in isolation from all other human beings. In his introduction to the work, Ibn Tufayl promises to reveal the secrets of Avicenna’s ‘Eastern Philosophy’ through Hayy’s slow progression from an animalistic child to a fully rational, nearly perfect human being who eventually achieves a mystical beatific vision of God. Through his tale, Ibn Tufayl aims to show the mystical and mysterious ‘true’ Avicennian philosophy, not the inauthentic Aristotelian Avicenna who seems much too aligned with the mis-believer, al-Fārābī. Unfortunately for Ibn Tufayl (who likely did not actually have access to Avicenna’s Eastern Philosophy), Avicenna is Aristotelian through and through (at least every bit as much as al-Fārābī). Yet Ibn Tufayl finds an ally in Avicenna, while he labels al-Fārābī an enemy. In this talk, I will show that, given his mystical aims, Ibn Tufayl has very little reason to favor either thinker over the other, and I will provide some conjectures as to why Ibn Tufayl ultimately labels his philosophy ‘Avicennian’.